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FTSE 100 jumps as miners rally, EUR/GBP lowest since May

Published 01/02/2021, 11:57
Updated 01/02/2021, 12:03
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – A surge in share prices of metals miners has seen the FTSE 100 jump higher on Monday, retracing some of the losses seen at the end of last week. At 12:00, the FTSE 100 is up 1.2% at 6484.

Silver miner Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) was the best performing stock in the index, rallying as much as 18% after Silver jumped almost 10% to trade at its highest level since 2013. The reason for the jump is that the precious metal is another target of traders in the WallStreetBets Reddit forum. With traders focusing their attention on silver, the market for physical silver faltered amid a huge surge in demand for bars and coins. “Pretty much physical silver is almost all gone in terms of live inventory,” CEO of precious metals retailer SD Bullion Tyler Wall said on Bloomberg TV.

Other precious metals miners listed in the UK also jumped, including Polymetal International PLC (LON:POLYP) and Hochschild Mining PLC (LON:HOCM). Similarly, Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL), Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) and Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) all gained.

Retail Merger Monday

The retail space saw two mergers on Monday morning. Firstly, JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON:JD) announced a deal to buy US sportswear retailer DTLR Villa in a deal worth $495million. Baltimore-based DTLR Villa has operations across the north and eastern US. This is the second deal JD Sports has completed in the US recently, following the acquisition of Shoe Palace, a company based primarily on the west coast.

Secondly, ASOS PLC (LON:ASOS) confirmed the acquisition of the Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge brands from defunct retail group Arcadia. The deal for the stock and brands is worth £265million, however, Asos is not purchasing the stores, putting a number of jobs at risk.  

Currency

The pound remains strong, particularly against its European counterpart as EUR/GBP dropped to its lowest level since May last year. Hopes for a quicker reopening of the economy due to the vaccine effort continues to underpin the pound. “There appears to be a vaccination trade brewing, with those countries most behind in distribution seeing weaker currency performance,” analysts at Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) said in a research note.  

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